Kane auditor vows to find credit cards

Official says list was misplaced

September 11, 2002|By William Presecky, Tribune staff reporter.

Kane County Auditor Bill Keck is pledging to account for all the taxpayer-paid credit cards used by county officials and employees after acknowledging Tuesday that he has no idea how many are out there.

A list of all the credit cards paid with county funds was compiled in recent years but it has been misplaced, Keck said during a County Board meeting in Geneva.

"We'll track down all the credit cards," said Keck after several board members expressed disbelief at the extent to which Sheriff Kenneth Ramsey and his employees currently use multiple credit cards to pay for business-related services and commodities.

The use of credit cards by sheriff's personnel has been the focus of a document search and inquiry into the accounting practices by Hampshire Township Democratic Chairman Karyn Danielson.

Ramsey, a Republican from Batavia, charged that Danielson's effort was politically motivated and was encouraged by the "surrogates" of Democrat Pat Perez, who is running against Ramsey in the November election.

Perez of Sugar Grove said he has met Danielson and is aware of her investigation, but he denied being behind it or having encouraged it.

Politics isn't at the core of Danielson's appearance before the board or her inquiry into how more than $94,000 was run up on at least 25 Visa cards Ramsey issued, Perez said.

"She's done it on her own, and I don't see what she's doing as being political as much as I look at her as a government watchdog. I think this is about good government and responsible spending," he said.

Perez, a deputy sheriff, acknowledged having held a county credit card from 1997 to 2000 when he was the supervisor of the special operations unit. He said he remembers using it only twice, to pay expenses for out-of-town seminars.

"I didn't think it was justified for me to have one. I really didn't feel comfortable having it," he said. "I see no need for 25 credit cards."

Ramsey chalked up Danielson's inquiry and some board members' response to it as "circus side-show politics."

"It shows how desperate they are, and I think the voters will see through it," Ramsey said. "It's just ludicrous to think there is something inappropriate about any of those expenditures. If it wasn't for me having my employees using credit cards, there wouldn't be any records."

Politics notwithstanding, Keck's pending inquiry underscores the tension that exists over the County Board's limited ability to control intra-departmental spending.

"Our control is in the yearly budget," board Chairman Mike McCoy (R-Aurora) said. "We don't have a large say in how an elected official spends it."

Under a long-standing county policy, the demands for documentation of credit card expenses are minimal, at best, Keck said, adding, "That should be a policy change."

Keck said he would review Danielson's documentation and issue a report to the board.